Gazpacho

I've been making Gazpacho's lately. You don't need to follow an exact recipie.

Take a slice of bread. Get it wet. Throw it in the blender.

Add one quarter cup of olive oil to the blender.

Add one and a half cups of diced tomatoes to the blender.

Add one cup of seeded and peeled cucumbers to the blender.

At a tbsp vinegar (balsamic or sherry) to the blender.

Add one small hot pepper to the blender

Add one quarter of an onion and two cloves of garlic to the blender.

At this point, I keep adding vegies to the blender till the blender fills up. Try a bell pepper, or carrots, or celery, or zuchini.

Blend for two minutes until everything is a liquid-- a soup.

I strain my gazpacho, but that is not necessary.

Roasted Dinners

I heard about roasted dinners from the Splendid Table. I've been making them fairly often-- they are very easy and work well for week nights.

The basic idea is that you take a bunch of food that will cook at about the same rate, or tastes good when over roasted, prep, oil and spice the food, put it on cooking tin and roast at 450F for 45 minutes.

More details..

When I get home I preheat the oven to 450F.

Now, I decide what I want to cook. All hard veggies work well. Try carrots, squash, potatoes, snow peas, brocholi, zuchini, onion.

I take a variety of veggies, tonight it's potatoes, carrots and brocholi, and cut them so they will cook at about the same time. The potatoes are more thick than the carrots since they cook faster.

Next, I toss with some oil and herbs.

Place the veggies on a baking tray next to a few thawned chicken pieces.

Place everything in the oven and roast for 45 minutes.

If your chicken comes out over done, then the next time, try putting it on the baking tray directly from the fridge, instead of letting it warm up to room temp.